Young women dressed up for Coming-of-Age-Day.
Photo Courtesy Hiratsuka City Homepage.
Coming-of-Age Day (second Monday in January)
In Japan, a person is recognized as an adult at age twenty. This is when Japanese youths acquire the right to vote, and to legally drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes.
Twenty-year-olds celebrate this on Coming-of-Age Day, the second Monday of January. On this day, local governments invite “new adults” to a Coming-of-Age ceremony, which the young adults attend wearing formal attire. Men usually wear suits, but many women go to the ceremony in kimono. On that day, city streets everywhere are brightened by young women in their colorful furisode, kimono with long sleeves that can reach past the knees. Usually, local governments host the ceremonies, but in recent years, young people in some places have formed executive committees to organize the ceremonies in cooperation with the local governments.
People who have left their hometowns for work or schooling often return to attend their Coming-of-Age ceremony at home. This gives the ceremonies an atmosphere of a school reunion, as former classmates are brought together for one more important event.
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